Whanganui High School

For most of Aoteaora the Māori new year focuses on the Matariki star cluster.

For Whanganui and Taranaki tribes, who can't see Mātariki in the East, tāngata whenua have traditionally looked to the rising of Puanga (the  star Rigel) just prior to Matariki  as a precursor to Matariki.

Coinciding with the end of harvest,
this period has traditionally been celebrated
as a time of abundance